Personal Investment In Dalton Trumbo's Johnny Got His Gun

Personal investment is something that should be very present in a person’s decision to go to war and risk their life, sadly it is not always part of their decision. Soldiers who are fighting in a war without knowing the exact reason or being able to explain why, should not be putting themselves in that position. A person’s personal investment is very important in deciding to what extent they are willing to go for what they are fighting for. The novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo challenges the theme of personal investment when Joe Bonham— the main character— fights in WWII, when the novel takes place. His decision to fight forces him to face many severe consequences. The film Shenandoah directed by Andrew V. McLaglen also challenges the theme of personal investment. Charlie Anderson— a father of seven living in Virginia during the Civil War— does not allow his sons to fight but after one of his sons is taken by soldiers his involvement in the war changes and it becomes more personal. Although Charlie Anderson is similar to Joe Bonham , simply because of the fact that …show more content…
Throughout the film things begin to happen that cause the family to become more and more involved in the war, an example of this is when there is a group of soldiers killed on the family’s land. Slowly Charlie’s views start to change until a Union Patrol takes Boy as a prisoner of the war. This makes the war personal for Charlie and his family, and his views change from wanting to stay out of the war to being willing to fight in order to get his son Boy back. He is now personally invested in the war and feels obligated to take a stand and do something about the war because of how it has affected him and his family as a